Archery bow including mirror type sighting device



United States Patent 72] Inventor Walter D. Hill 10803 SE Harold St., Portland, Oregon 97266 [21 Appl. No. 698,447 [22] Filed Jan. 17, 1968 [45] Patented Aug. 18, 1970 [54] ARCHERY BOW INCLUDING MIRROR TYPE SIGHTING DEVICE 11 Claims, 8 Drawing Figs.

{52] [1.8. CI 124/24, 124/30, 33/46 [51] Int. Cl F4lb 5/00 [50] Field ofSearch 124/22, 23, 24, 30, 35, 41, Archery Digest; 33/464 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,001,470 5/1935 Nyvall 124/24 3,320,670 5/1967 Ambraziatis ABSTRACT: An archers bow sight comprises an upper mirror, and an upper bracket for mounting the upper mirror on the upper portion of the riser of a longbow. A lower mirror is mounted on a lower bracket attached to the riser, below the upper bracket. The two mirrors are aligned substantially vertically with each other, forwardly of the bow. Cross hairs or other target aligning means are mounted on one of the mirrors. The lower mirror is focused on the target, while the upper mirror is focused on the lower mirror and reflects the target image to the archers eye. The mirror mounting the cross hairs may be adjusted vertically to compensate for distance, and horizontally to compensate for windage. Corrections further are made for draw and bow torquing.

Patented Aug 18, 1970 i4 FIG.

FIG. 3 INVENTOR. WALTER D. HILL FIG 7 ATTY.

ARCHERY BOW INCLUDING MIRROR TYPE SIGHTING DEVICE This invention relates to an archer's bow sight.

As is well known, archery is one of the most difficult of all sports. This is for the reason that each time the archer shoots an arrow he is faced with the necessity of adjusting for several important variables. He must adjust the elevation of the arrow to compensate for distance. He must adjust the horizontal angle of the arrow to compensate for windage. He must insure that he draws the arrow each time to the same anchor point. He must be sure that he does not torque the bow up, down or sideways. Failure to attend to any one of these variables will cause the arrow to miss the target.

It is the general purpose of the present invention to provide a sight for an archers bow, specifically the longbow, which sight will assist the archer to adjust the bow for distance and windage, to draw the arrow to the proper anchor point, and to correct for any inadvertent torquing of the bow during shooting. It is a further purpose of the invention to achieve these various objectives by the provision of a bow sight which is applicable to bows of varying contour and construction, which is adjustable rapidly, and which compensates for errors over a wide range of angles.

The manner in which the foregoing and other objects of this invention are accomplished will be apparent from the accompanying specification and the claims considered together with the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary view in side elevation of a longbow on which is mounted the presently described bow sight.

FIG. 2 is a transverse sectional view taken along line 2-2 FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view in elevation looking in the direction of the arrows 4-4 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a transverse, detail sectional view taken along lines 5-5 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary, detail sectional view taken along lines 7-7 of FIG. 1 and FIG. 8 is a transverse sectional view taken along line 8-8 FIG. 1.

Broadly considered, the bow sight of my invention comprises an upper mirror, upper bracket means for mounting the upper mirror on the upper portion of the riser portion of the bow forwardly thereof, a lower mirror, and a lower bracket for mounting the lower mirror on the riser below the upper mirror. Cross hairs or other target aligning means are carried by one of the mirrors, preferably the lower. The upper mirror is adjustable to focus in on the lower mirror as well as on the tip of an arrow drawn back on the arrow shelf of the bow. The lower mirror is adjustable in a vertical plane to compensate for windage. Also, means are present on the lower mirror mounting for setting it angularly to compensate for irregularities of bow contour, such as special handle grips.

Considering the foregoing in greater detail and with particular reference to the drawings:

A typical longbow is indicated schematically at 10 in FIG. 1.

The bow consists of a central riser section 12 an upper limb 14, a lower limb 16, a bow string I8, and a central arrow shelf 20. The arrow shelf is provided with a transverse index mark 22 with which the tip 24 of an arrow 26 should register when the archer draws the bow to the predetermined anchor point. The bow sight of the invention includes an upper mirror unit indicated generally at 30 and attached to the upper portion of bow riser section 12, and a lower mirror unit indicated generally at 32 and attached to the bow below the upper mirror unit. In the illustrated form of the invention, it is attached to the lower part of the riser section.

The construction of the upper mirror unit is shown particularly in FIGS. l and 7.

A flat metal plate 34 provided with adjustment slots 36 is secured adjustably to the side wall of the upper part of riser section 12 by means of adjustment screws 38. A tapered end of plate 34 extends forwardly, beyond the plane of the outer face of the riser section. It pivotally supports an angled support plate 40 by means of a frictionally adjustable pivot pin 42.

One segment of angled support plate 40 mounts a mirror 44a and the other a mirror 44b. These are arranged at a slight angle to each other. This makes it possible to focus mirror 44a on the mirror component of lower mirror unit 32, and mirror 44b on the tip of arrow 26 as it rests on arrow shelf 20, in registration with index line 22.

To make possible the necessary adjustments, lower mirror unit 32 is mounted on a bracket indicated generally at 50 to which is hinged a mirror support frame, indicated generally at 52, FIG. 2.

Bracket 50 comprises a T-shaped metal plate 54 secured to riser section 12 of the bow in such a manner as to make possible horizontal adjustment of the mirror unit as required to clear the projections which characterize the contours of the grip portion of modern bows.

A gross adjustment for this purpose is afforded by providing an angular mounting plate 56, the foot of which is bolted adjustably to plate 54 by means of bolt 58 and the face of which is provided with slots 60 penetrated by mounting screws 62 which fix the plate to riser section 12.

A fine adjustment of angular positon of the lower mirror unit is provided by an adjustment bolt 64. This bolt penetrates a transverse opening through the rearward end of plate 54 and is threaded into a socket 66 recessed into riser section 12. Inward or outward adjustment of bolt 64 shifts the plate 54 to the desired position of lower mirror unit 52, where it is locke by means of lock nuts 68.

To provide a demountable hinged connection between mounting bracket 50 and mirror unit 52, a margin of crosspiece 70 of plate 54 is bent inwardly and rounded to form a ball member 72.

The lower mirror support 52 which is hinged to the bracket thus provided is housed in a case 74. The central segment 75 of the case is provided with a rearwardly extending projection 76 which is reversely bent to form a socket dimensioned to receive ball member 72 of cross plate 70.

The central segment of case 74 also mounts a threaded stud 78 a spaced distance from projection 76. The stud extends rearwardly, penetrates an opening in cross piece 70, and mounts an adjustment nut 80.

Resiliently to couple together the two lower sight elements, there are provided, first, a compression spring 82 mounted on stud 78 and interposed between the central section of case 74 and cross piece 70, and, second, a length 84 of surgical rubber tubing or other resiliently deformable material. These two resilient members maintain ball member 72 in frictional contact with socket member 76 in a position of angular adjustment determined by the setting of adjustment nut 80.

Case 74 houses and supports a mirror having cross hairs 92. The mirror is supported on a backing plate 94. It is pivotally mounted for adjustment to provide the desired correction for distance.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 6, the upper end of backing plate 94 is pivoted to channel member 74 by cone-pointed set screws 96. The underface of the plate mounts a cam follower 98. The latter engages a cam I00 which is so contoured as to impart the desired angle to the mirror.

In this connection it is to be noted that the cam contour substantially is that of a French curve, which resembles the flight pattern of an arrow. This feature of the mirror mounting makes it possible to index the mirror setting by constant increments, rather than by increments which bunch up at one end of the adjustment pattern.

Cam is fixed to one end of a shaft 102. The shaft is mounted rotatably in a friction lock assembly which holds it in any desired position of adjustment. lts construction is shown in FIG. 5.

A hollow bolt 104 is threaded through an opening in case 74. It engages a packing nut 106 having an opening aligned with the opening through bolt 104, thus providing a continuous journal for shaft 102. A compressible, plastic friction lock member 108 is interposed between the bolt and nut.

Shaft 102 extends outside case 74. A knurled adjustment knob 110 is secured to its outer end by means of a set screw 112. A calibrated index plate 114 is fixed to the knob. It is read with reference to a mark 116 on the outer face of case 74, FIG. 4.

To maintain cam follower 98 continously pressed in working engagement against cam 100, there is provided a coil spring 118 the ends of which are fastened, respectively, to an ear 120 on mirror plate 94 and an ear 122 on an inner face of case 74.

The manner of use of the herein described bow sight is as follows:

The two parts of the sight are mounted as shown in FIG. 1. They are adjusted by means of the various adjustment screws until the archer with the arrow in fully drawn position, can look in the lower section 44a of the upper mirror and see cross hairs 92 in the lower mirror. With a slight change of eye angle he can look in the upper section 44b of the upper mirror and see the position of arrow point 24 with relation to index mark 22 on arrow shelf 20.

The archer then can calibrate the adjustment for distance. This is done by shooting several arrows at each of predetermined distances from the target and at each distance observing the reading of index plate 114 which gives an on-target result. The readings then are referenced against the distance and the resulting chart used as a basis for future distance adjustments.

In a particular shoot, the proper setting for windage is obtained by shooting several arrows at long and short distances and at various settings of adjustment nut 80 until proper windiage allowance is obtained. Reproduceable shooting patterns then may be obtained.

It is to be noted that application of the bow sight on the shooting range overcomes the primary problems which heretofore have beset archers.

Adjustment of the sight for distance may be accomplished in but two or three seconds time by simple adjustment of knurled nut 110 and associated index plate 114.

Appropriate adjustment for windage may be accomplished rapidly and easily by adjustment of nut 80.

Visual inspection of the tip of the arrow by means of mirror section 44b at each draw insures that the draw length will be exactly the same each time.

Locating cross hairs 92 on mirror 90, which is from 14 to 17 inches away from the bow, measured along the angular line of sight shown in FIG. 1, insures that the cross hairs will be sharply defined and not fuzzy in appearance, as are sight indicia when they are mounted directly on the bow.

Location of the two mirrors forwardly of the riser section of the bow places the vertical center line ofthe mirrors from 3 to 4 inches forwardly of the pivot point of the bow. This has an important effect in that it corrects for bow hand torquing mistakes.

Furthermore, the sight is applicable to bows of various contours and design; is easily mounted, adjusted and removed; is secure in its various positions of adjustment; and is equally effective over long and short shooting ranges.

It is to be understood that the form of my invention herein shown and described is to be taken as an illustrative example ofthe same and that various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of my invention or the scope of the subjoined claims.

lclaim:

1. In combination with an archers longbow having upper and lower limbs and an intermediate riser, a bow sight comprising,

a) upper and lower mirrors mounted on the riser and pro jecting forwardly thereof with one of the mirrors arranged to reflect a target image to the other mirror and with said other mirror arranged to reflect the target image from said one mirror to the eye ofan archer, and

b) target aligning means ofone ofthe mirrors.

2. The bow sight of Claim 1 wherein the target aligning means comprise cross hairs on the lower mirror.

3. The bow sight of Claim 1 including upper bracket means mounting the upper mirror on the riser and comprising a plate, means for securing the inner end of the plate to the side wall of the riser with the plate extending forwardly of the riser, an angle iron support for said upper mirror, pivot means pivotally mounting one segment of the angle iron support to the forward end of the plate, and means for securing the upper mirror to the other segment of the angle iron support.

4. In combination with an archers longbow having upper and lower limbs and an intermediate riser and arrow shelf, a bow sight comprising a) upper and lower mirrors mounted on the riser with the lower mirror arranged to reflect a target image to the upper mirror and with the upper mirror disposed above the arrow shelf and arranged to reflect the target image from the lower mirror to the eye of an archer,

b) the upper mirror being divided into two segments with one of the segments being focused on the lower mirror for reflecting the target image to the eye of the archer and the other segment being focused on the arrow shelf for reflecting the image of the shelf and superimposed arrow point to the eye of the archer, and

) target aligning means on one of the target reflecting mirrors.

5. In combination with an archers longbow having upper and lower limbs and an intermediate riser, a bow sight comprising a) upper and lower mirrors mounted on the riser with the lower mirror arranged to reflect a target image to the upper mirror and with the upper mirror arranged to reflect the target image from the lower mirror to the eye of an archer,

b) lower bracket means mounting the lower mirror on the riser and including a case, pivot means pivotally interconnecting one end of the mirror and the case, and cam means contacting the other end of the mirror for adjustment of the reflecting angle thereof, and

c) target aligning means on one of the mirrors.

6. The bow sight of Claim 5 wherein the cam means has a camming surface in substantially the arc ofa French curve,

7. The bow sight of Claim 5 wherein the cam means is fixed to a shaft frictionally mounted for rotation in the case and extending through a side wall thereof, and an index plate mounted on the shaft for measuring the angular adjustment thereofand hence the angular adjustment ofthe lower mirror.

8. in combination with an archers longbow having upper and lower limbs and an intermediate riser, a bow sight comprising a) upper and lower mirrors mounted on the riser with the lower mirror arranged to reflect a target image to the upper mirror and with the upper mirror arranged to reflect the target image from the lower mirror to the eye of an archer,

b) lower bracket means mounting the lower mirror on the riser and comprising a plate, means for mounting the plate on the riser, a mirror support supporting the lower mirror, and hinge means interconnecting the mirror support and the plate for pivotal adjustment in a horizontal plane as required to correct the sight for windage, and

c) target aligning means on one of the mirrors.

9. The bow sight of Claim 8 wherein the hinge means comprises spring pressed ball and socket means and screw adjustment means for adjusting the horizontal position of the mirror support.

10. In combination with an archers longbow having upper a) upper and lower mirrors mounted on the riser with the lower mirror arranged to reflect a target image to the upper mirror and with the upper mirror arranged to reflect the target image from the lower mirror to the eye of an archer, 5

b) lower bracket means mounting the lower mirror on the 0) target aligning means on one of the mirrors.

11. In combination with an archers longbow having upper and lower limbs and an intermediate riser, a bow sight comprising a) upper and lower mirrors mounted on the riser with the lower mirror arranged to reflect a target image to the riser and comprising a plate, rneans for attaching the plate to the riser, the plate having on its outer end a transverse extension having an aperture on one side and a ball-formupper mirror and with the upper mirror arranged to reflect the target image from the lower mirror to the eye of an archer,

i a i on it other id a mirror Support case, 10 b) lower bracket means mounting the lower mirror on the mounting means for mounting the lower mirror within the riser and eemlmsmg a p e hlhge fheahs Oh the forward case, the case having an outwardly projecting extension end of the Plate mouhhhg the fulcrum means reversely bent to form an elongated socket dimensioned Secured eehtrahy to the Plate at end and t the how at to receive the ball portion of the plate, adjustment screw the other end, and screw meahs lhtel'eohheetlhg the e means extending rearwardly from the case and received ward end Ofthe P t e the slde face of h hser Pomeh in the aperture of the plate, resilient means interposed of the how for provldlhg laterel h h adjustment Ofthe between the plate and the case for maintaining the ball Plate hence ofthe mm'or which lt'mouhtsa and and socket members resiliently in hinging engagement target al'gmng means on one ofthe with each other, and 

